STAND UP AND BE COUNTED

Num 3:15
15 "Number the sons of Levi by their fathers' households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall number." NASU
** As a pastor of a smaller church, I hear every once in a while about someone leaving a mega church and on of their problems were… “they felt like a number and not a person.” I can totally understand what they are saying and how they feel…. However, it’s amazing to me that God has dedicated a whole book in the bible that talks about numbers and numbering people. It would be sad if everyone of the Israelites decided to leave because they just felt like a number. The amazing thing about this (if you choose to look on the positive side of numbering) is that every name, every number, every person that was numbered, had a job that was important enough that gave them that number in the first place. As I read thru this book I see different teams doing different things and that being a number of a particular team would be nothing more than having a number on the back of my jersey when I’m playing baseball or football. Now don’t get me wrong, I totally understand how you can feel disconnected when you attend a church that is in the thousands and even in the hundreds UNLESS you have made yourself available to help in a certain area or team to make a difference among the thousands or hundreds…. Hmmmm…. I don’t know what my number is, but if I’m number 345, then I’m going to be the best 345 that ever was counted! How about you?